Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) of the lower extremities with Parallel Imaging and a dedicated 36 Element Matrix-Coil at 3 Tesla

One of the last drawbacks of MRA was the reduced spatial resolution compared to DSA and CTA. The implementation of dedicated angiography matrix-coils in combination with parallel imaging and high field strength offer the possibility of high spatial resolution without ionizing radiation or nephrotoxic contrast agents. A prototype of a dedicated peripheral angiography matrix-coil helped to compensate the loss of SNR when using parallel acquisition techniques.